Hellooo !! Sorry for the delay, I know it was a bit long but I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter! And thank you for 1000 views, I'm so excited to share this story with all of you ~ (see the end for more notes)

Kibum sat on the bench, next to Jonghyun. He usually was not the shy type, not very outgoing either, he did not have much friends, but it was not because he was scared or anything, it was mostly a choice. Having tons of people around him was not really something he was searching for and he just enjoyed things like they were. However, he never had any problem to talk to someone if he needed to, absolutely not, but, now that he was next to the Gryffindor, he did not even dare to look at him in the eyes. How stupid was it? He had no idea why this guy was intimidating him so much. He was not even taller than him.

“You said it was important?”

Jonghyun voice made him realize he had stayed silent for too long.

“Ah, yes.” Kibum started, he bit his lips. He had no idea how to say that “I think we're kinda connected.”

What the , he thought. What kind of starting was that. Now Jonghyun was probably staring at him with big eyes, he did not checked that fact and kept on looking at his hands. He needed to make up for that.

“Not what I meant, well it is true but, don't you ever feel a kind of pain on your finger? Not really a pain but more like an itching, you know the kind of thing that doesn't really hurt but that is annoying and it just can't go and...”

“How do you know?” Jonghyun interrupted him, completely confused, “I haven't tell anyone about this.”

Kibum glanced at him, he seemed sincerely lost and was touching something on his finger, somewhat mechanically, that the Slytherin identified as the other ring.

“Can I see your hand?” he said without answering the other one's question. The latter seemed to not understand what he was asking for so he just took his hand himself. Jonghyun opened his mouth like he was about to protest but Kibum did not let him the time to as he put his hand with the ring right beside Jonghyun's. “That's what I meant. The rings. They are the same and it seems like they are connected. Don't you have noticed that when we are close, at least in the same place, the pain disappears?”

The Gryffindor simply nodded but he still looked confused. “How can this be? And how did you find out about it?” he mumbled.

“Some kind of curse apparently. That's all I know, for now.” Kibum sighed lightly. “When I first started to understand that the pain came from that ring I asked a friend of mine to help me, he's a Ravenclaw you see the type to have read twice all the books in the library, and he find that curse in one of these books.”

A little silence took place between them, making him very awkward. He then realised that during all this time he had been holding Jonghyun's hand. Embarrassed, he quickly let it go.

“Is it really possible to read all those books?” The Gryffindor's asked.

Kibum turned his head to look at him, he could not tell if the latter was joking or not with this question but his face seemed dead serious.

“What?” was all that he managed to say.

Jonghyun just shrugged. “Whatever” he said, and Kibum was relieved to hear him continue their conversation since he was a bit afraid of the awkward silence between them. “Now what are we supposed to do?”

“Well, now that you know about that too, we can, the three of us, find a way to take these off. I've tried all the spells I know but nothing worked.”

“I tried some too.” The Quidditch player paused a second. “Don't you think we should maybe talk about this to a professor? Or at least the nurse? Maybe it's more dangerous than we think and...”

“I don't think so. Let's not alarm everyone for the moment.”

But Jonghyun did not seem convinced, so he added “If we find nothing in two days, we will go see the nurse, okay?”

“Alright.” he finally said, even if Kibum knew he was not totally satisfied with this agreement yet he did not feel like the other one was going to inform their teachers about all this. “Let me get this clear, one more time. Since the rings are hurting us when we are apart, does this mean we have to hang out together now?”

“I... I guess so?”

*

Jonghyun climbed the stairs to the Gryffindor's tower without even noticing where he was going. Dinner was over and all students were asked to return to their common room. Kinda mechanically he was following all his housemates, too busy to replay the talk he had with Kibum earlier to really care about where he was going. He was still thinking that the idea to find a solution by themselves without warning any teacher was a bad idea. The young man was not someone suspicious but he had to admit he did not know Kibum, nor his friend – he could not remember his name? Did Kibum even told him? - and it was a pretty serious situation. He knew magic well. He knew magic could sometimes be very dangerous and he did not wanted his hand to be a victim of this. That was why he was not sure that Hogwarts students handling all this by themselves was a good thing. Not that the Slytherin seemed dumb, and if his friend had really read all the books in the huge library then he certainly was not either, and himself, without meaning to brag or anything, was a pretty decent wizard, but he could not help but worry a bit. Worries that he had shared with Minho, just after talking to Kibum, the Hufflepuff was still waiting in the Great Hall, but the latter had only told him that he was willing to help them. And when Jonghyun asked him if he was not thinking that warning their teachers was a better idea, he had just shrugged and murmured something like “aren't you suppose to be brave...”, commentary that the Gryffindor was still mad about, and then the feast had begun so he had to left him to go to his own table. He managed to forgot a bit about all this during dinner, his team Captain was telling him that he had an amazing new strategy to beat the Ravenclaw team during the next Quidditch game, but now that he was back alone, it was impossible to get it out of his mind. But a promise was a promise, he would wait two days. He had to.

*

Kibum felt his head falling and he suddenly opened his eyes. He looked around. As expected, he was not the only one who was starting to lose concentration and it seemed like Jonghyun was sleeping over an open book. He thought about waking him up so he could keep on looking for a cure but he did nothing, he could fully understand that he was tired because so was he. It had been two days since the first time they had talked and Kibum was sure he could consider him as a friend. In fact, they had spent these two days almost glued together, at first the Slytherin had been anxious about it but it was very easy to talk with Jonghyun, almost as easy as talking with Jinki who was his friend for a long time, and at the end spending time with him had become almost natural. He had no idea if the other one was feeling the same way as him but he really hoped so. Usually, they would meet up in front of the Great Hall, talk for a bit until Jink and Jonghyun's friend, Minho, that Kibum had already seen before in the classes he shared with Hufflepuff, came too and if the first time they all were a bit too shy to eat at another table than theirs, the second they all sit on Hufflepuff's table without even thinking about it. After that, they would all go to their own class, as much as possible together and Kibum ended up noticing that he was waiting all day for the classes he shared with Gryffindor. Not only because being with Jonghyun was taking the pain on his finger away but just because he enjoyed his presence, a lot. Which was a bit weird, Kibum had never been the type to get attached quickly. A loud noise suddenly cut him out of his thoughts, a book had fallen somewhere in the library. He saw his friend slowly openning his eyes, he pretended to be reading his book, feeling suddenly very hot, he did not want Jonghyun to see that he was staring at him while he was sleeping.

"I found something."

The voice was followed by the noise of a loud book that Jinki dropped between Kibum and Jonghyun, the latter was now fully awake. More than happy, the Slytherin closed his own book.

"Some kind of potion."

He saw Jonghyun grinned, and he himself had trouble to contain a sigh. Neither of them was a good potion maker. But Jinki did not seem to notice their feelings and continue :

"It said it can melt any kind of magical object or cursed one."

Jongyun quietly nodded but Kibum could not hold a doubt.

"But what if it also melt our skin?" he asked in a whisper.

"I checked that and it is said nowhere that it is dangerous for the skin."

"So, it's safe?"

"I think so."

"You think?" he shouted, and, when the librarian sent him a strange look, added more quietly, "it is our skin we're talking about, can't you be sure?"

"It's the best solution we have."

Jinki looked determined but Jonghyun and Kibum could not help but look at each other, worried.

I feel like this chapter is a bit short, even if I checked and it's not shorter than the others but I don't know, I'm a bit ashamed to give you this after one month? But I feel like it has to end there, I don't know I hope y'all understand me haha I also feel like my english is broken but I tried my best and I really hope you're still liking this story and that you're looking forward to what is going to happen!! I don't want to finish this fanfic that's a bit why it feels like the story is moving very slow I hope it's fine with you too haha Anyway I'm talking to much, see you soon for the next part (and yes I decided not to name my chapters bc I at this)